Smitten, a popular San Francisco ice cream shop, made a name for itself by making each scoop to order, all in about 90 seconds, while customers wait. Walk into any Smitten shop and you won’t find the typical counter with freezers full of various ice cream flavors ready to be scooped. Instead, customers can pick their flavor from the menu, and the ice cream base is poured into a machine containing liquid nitrogen that is used to make the ice cream fresh each time. The Brrr, as the ice cream making machine is known as, is what makes Smitten a novel choice for a San Francisco scoop.

Smitten Ice Cream in San Francisco

Smitten was founded in 2007 by self-proclaimed ice cream fanatic Robyn Sue Fisher. At the time, she was working with a local engineer to create the Brrr machine. In the early days, without a storefront location, Fisher sold her ice cream in a wagon, building up a following through word of mouth. The first storefront location opened in 2011 in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley. Today, Smitten has multiple area shops in Hayes Valley, the Mission District, Pacific Heights and the Marina District.

How It’s Made

Because Smitten ice cream is always made fresh and to-order, it contains only fresh ingredients and does not use any fillers or stabilizers. For example, the salted caramel ice cream contains just six ingredients: cream, milk, butter, cane sugar, lemon juice and salt. Smitten is also committed to using local ingredients and pairing with local businesses to create some of its flavors. Among its offerings are Blue Bottle Coffee, made with coffee from Oakland-based Blue Bottle Coffee Co., and TCHO 60.5 percent Chocolate, made with chocolate from TCHO Chocolate in nearby Berkeley, California.

The Smitten menu

Unlike some ice cream shops that offer dozens upon dozens of flavor options, Smitten typically offers only a handful of flavors on a given day. You can also often find seasonal flavors. Smitten offers a vegan peanut butter chocolate flavor. In addition to a scoop of ice cream, customers can also order sundaes or pick from a variety of toppings, including almonds, caramel, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Even the waffle cones and waffle bowls at Smitten are made fresh each day.

Smitten is aptly named as patrons rave about the ice cream. Locals and visitors line up for a scoop almost any time the shops are open.